11: Birthday Week and Viseu

Now for the second blog of the day.

Birthday Dinner!

Fresh off the plane from Barcelona, I arrived in Coimbra just in time for the week of my birthday.  I absolutely love birthdays and am positive that I will continue to love them even when I get much older (what's not to love about a day celebrating to your very presence?).  For me, I tend to include the week surrounding my birthday as part of the celebration, and it was pretty easy to celebrate like that this week.  Somehow two very fun events were planned for the two nights before my birthday: Tuesday night was French/Belgian night, complete with champagne and free French fries, at a local club called "Duplex" and Wednesday night featured a midnight futebol game, where the Erasmus team, which included several friends of mine, played and lost to vicious Italy.  Then, of course, there was our trip to Viseu which began the day after.

Empty Dom Pedro's

But of course, all week I waited anxiously for Thursday morning.  March 24th, and I was finally 21 years old!  My last milestone birthday until the not-anxiously-anticipated 30th, and I had a fantastic day.  We only had one class, but since a university-wide strike was in effect that day, few students showed up and it barely counted.  I then got dressed far too early for my birthday dinner, watched my favorite movie (When Harry Met Sally, in case you were wondering) and then went to dinner with several friends at the infamous Dom Pedro's around 8 o'clock.  The owner was, of course, escatic to see us and, upon finding out it was my birthday, not only gave me beijinhos but took pictures of our dinner party both on my camera and on his own camera, to post on the Dom Pedro's Facebook page (how did I not know this existed?).  He was very adamant about taking high-quality pictures and it took about ten minutes before he was satisfied and returned my camera full-loaded.  Of course the restaurant was empty so no one was there to witness the blatant favoritism, but it was still highly awkward and hilarious.  But the awkward is only part of the charm and I still love that restaurant.  The owner even gave me a free half-bottle of wine on which he had written the date.  We had a delicious meal and my friends refused to let me pay (though I still should have contributed...), and then we headed out on the town. 

My Dom Pedro's wine

Mom, I know you aren't going to want to read the next sentence but: we drank quite a lot.  My friends and I hoped around Coimbra, meeting up with more people. Despite my insistence on staying out, my friends eventually broke me back to the apartment so I would avoid the probably copious amounts of trouble I could have gotten into.  Overall, a very good night and definitely appropriate for one's 21st birthday.

Out on the town for the big 21st.

Mom, you can resume reading.

Friday consisted of classes and packing, because we were leaving that afternoon with our program director for Viseu, Portugal.  This was meant to be a "viagem cultural," though in reality it seemed to have very little to do with the culture of Portugal.  Late Friday afternoon, Amy, Tatiana, and I arrived with Ana Paula and her boyfriend Francisco at Hotel Montebelo, a five-star hotel and spa.  I'm not saying I'm not grateful because the hotel was absolutely gorgeous and amazing, but was it truly "cultural"?  I think not.  This seemed glaringly obvious to us, especially when we spent several hours in the overwise empty spa, where Amy and Tatiana took turns getting massages while I hopped between the sauna, Turkish bath, and pool with Ana Paula, who was in a bikini.  Good.

One half of our giant room

I told you it was made entirely of ice...

That night, Ana Paula took us to the Palácio de Gelo, which is not a palace or castle but a mall in Viseu.  We paid for our own dinners in the food court, visited a few shops, and then went to the Bar do Gelo, a bar made entirely of ice.  This was paid for by the program, you know, since it is Portuguese culture.  It was rather neat though, despite the unflattering black jackets and the freezing temperatures.  We sipped vodka beverages with Ana Paula from cups made of ice while the bartender cursed us under his breath and pulled his hat lower over his ears (we were the only ones there).  After the ice bar, we returned to the hotel and slept in our beautiful room.

Ice seat at the Bar do Gelo Viseu

Buffet Carnage

The next morning we discovered the most amazing breakfast buffet known to man.  Any kind of bread you could want, pasteis de nata, cake, fruit, cereal, meats, eggs, vegetables, excessive amounts of jam, a whole leg of ham... and more.  We gorged ourselves before leaving with Ana Paula to visit Santa Maria de Viseu, a beautiful, dark, and slightly moist 12th century church in the center of town.  There we stopped in the Museu de Vasco Grão, whose name refers to a Portuguese painter that they highlight throughout the museum.  The museum had amazing amounts of religious art and sculpture from all around Portugal, and while I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, I was amazed by the detail on the wooden sculpture.  It was actually mostly wooden, with very little stone.  They even had relics, which grossed my friends out: "Why would they want to keep someone's bone and touch them?!"  I guess it just makes more sense to someone raised Catholic... though I couldn't explain why anyone would want to do such a thing either.  :)

Inside Santa Maria de Viseu

After this museum we went into the church itself, which was beautiful.  For its age, it was amazingly preserved.  It was absolutely beautiful inside, though I could feel myself getting a little churched-out.  It was a lot of religious art to take in after such a short amount of time, and by the time we also explored the inside of the Santa Casa de Misericórdia across the street, both its chapel and museum, I would have been very happy never to look at another sculpture of Saint Sebastian pierced with arrows, Jesus on the Crucifix, or "Virgin with Child" for several years.  Though we left soon after to walk around and do a little bit of shopping, there was yet more religious art in my future.

Santa Casa de Misericórdia

When we tried to leave Misericórdia, it began to rain excessively and, with our umbrellas safely packed back at the hotel, Tatiana and I huddled under Amy's umbrella as we wandered the streets of Viseu and stopped in several cheap shops with Ana Paula, who seemed equally excited about the shopping as she did about the museums.  She even bought a pair of boots on sale and would intermittently proclaim her love for her "botas bonitas" for the rest of the day. 

Somewhere in Viseu

At the Tesouro: Isabel, patron saint of Coimbra

After our walk, we returned to Santa Maria de Viseu and went into the Tesouro de Catedral Museum, which would have been far more impressive if we hadn't spent all morning looking at religious art.  By this time, Francisco had joined up with us again (he had returned to Porto after driving us to Viseu), and we had a "culture lunch," which consisted of some sort of baculhau, some sort of other meat, and línguas de porco: pig tongues.  Oh yes.  And I can safely say that they were absolutely delicious, especially since Francisco seems to have taken a liking to me kept putting more and more tongues on my plate. It felt like he maid it his personal duty that I speak as much Portuguese around him as possible, correcting my pronunciation of "chávena," (which was appreciated) and making me recount the legend of the Gallo de Barcelos (which was not).  After that lunch, I was so full that I wanted to die, and Amy and Tatiana felt the same.  We returned to the hotel, but I couldn't nap the food away: it was time for my own massage.  While I would rather not go into detail about my very first professional massage, I will simply say that it involved paper underwear and a very friendly Brazilian masseuse.  At least she told me that I spoke Portuguese very well.

We wasted more time in the spa area, which all of the other residents of the hotel must have discovered that day, and glared at the French men in the jacuzzi until they left.  Then we returned to the mall that night, where Ana Paula and Francisco left us to shop.  We ate dinner in the food court around midnight (yes, the mall was open until midnight!), where Tatiana and I finally experienced "Telepizza."  This pizza company has been a source of amusement for us for some time as we often see their delivery boys on logo-ed bikes delivering pizzas throughout the badly-paved streets of Coimbra, but their pizza was absolutely delicious.  Mr. Pizza, you have competition.

TELEPIZZA

We also discovered a crepe place in the mall after Telepizza.  Thickest crepes I've ever eaten.  For the second time that day, I was too full to move, but somehow I managed to get back downstairs and hop into a taxi back to the hotel. 

CREPE

The next morning we returned to the magical breakfast buffet before packing and checking out of the Montebelo.  I been feeling a little sick throughout the entire week but, as it was my birthday week,  I had refused to let it interfere with my enjoyment of my 21st or this trip.  However, in what was probably a combination of the lack of sleep, amount of alcohol consumed, the mental exhaustion of speaking Portuguese almost 24/7 that entire weekend, and rain from the previous day, my cold came rushing on me that morning and I was rather miserable.  As we got into Francisco's car, I  thought we were returning right to Coimbra and was excited to get into my bed and pajamas, but that was not the case.  After a very curvy trip down tiny streets, we stopped in a town called Caramulo for their museum.  I only wish I felt better, but as I wandered through their very neat automobile exhibit and their World War II propaganda gallery, I was just not having it.  The top floor, which included a ton of religious art, didn't help.

Churchill Pot-luck vs. Hitler Humble Pie

Rolls Royce, my dream car.

We got back in the car to find a place to eat before returning to Coimbra, but it took so long to find a place that I ended up falling asleep in the car.  Ana Paula was dead set on eating sandes de leitão, which is a sandwich with suckling pig, and while we passed restaurant after restaurant advertising leitão, we didn't stop until we found one with a sign specifically with such sandes.  I'm not a huge fan of pork, but by the time we got our sandwiches I ate it so fast that I could barely taste it.  I had told them about our court's tradition of pig roasts earlier in the weekend, so they were very interested to know about the differences between our usual pig and the leitão.  Even though Ana Paula had ordered for us, this was apparently not a culture lunch and we had to pay for it. 

Frustrated and in debt, I got back in the car and, after some traffic, finally Amy, Tatiana, and I were back in our apartment.  We haven't left since.  While I still feel a bit sick, I can definitely feel my cold subsiding.  Viseu was a cute little city, but I am very glad to be back in Coimbra. 

And now, after several hours of blogging and uploading photos, I think its time to make some dinner. 

10: Barcelona

So sorry its taken so long to update this blog!  These past two weeks have been absolutely crazy.  Be prepared for two posts back-to-back.

So last weekend, March 18th - 20th, Amy and I took a trip to the beautiful city of Barcelona.  We chose that particular weekend to visit since Amy's uncles would also be in town.  One of them was a conductor in Spain for years and years, so he definitely knew his way around and could potentially help us with the language barrier (despite the fact that they speak Catalan, not Spanish, in that region of Spain).

We took a later flight on Friday night and arrived in Barcelona around 11 PM.  The airport was my very first exposure to the language of Catalan.  I was a little nervous about going to a city which didn't speak English, Portuguese, or Spanish (which, thanks to Portuguese, I can read a little bit), but Catalan wasn't too bad.  First, we only saw the spelling, which at first looked like badly misspelled Spanish and second looked like the love child of French and Spanish with a taste for the Portuguese "ç".  But thankfully each sign in Catalan had both Spanish and English versions right underneath. 

Tried to take a picture of the signs to BARCELONA but... alas.

From the airport, we hoped on a shuttle, then a metro, where I heard Catalan.  Honestly, I could not tell the difference between it and Spanish.  I don't speak either, but to my untrained ear it sounded exactly the same.  Hopefully when I learn Spanish in the distant future (that's the plan, anyway), I'll be able to go back and understand how it is different.

Common room in our hostel

When we finally arrived in our hostel, we were very pleasantly surprised.  This was technically the second hostel we booked.  The first had emailed me a few days before our flight to let us know that they could no longer accommodate us.  While navigating the poorly translated email, I came to believe that their water lines had busted and therefore their facility was down.  They sent us the name of another hostel, but we went our own way and found another cheaper one.  The new hostel, however, was really nice!  There was a common room area, a kitchen, and the dorms that we were staying in were very clean.  I had been a little nervous about staying in a dorm, instead of a private room, setting, but there was no problem at all.  We discovered the next morning that the furniture in the common room and kitchen was really bright, colorful, and clean.  They even served breakfast with toast, cereal, and knock-off Nutella.  What could be better?  We got up very early that Saturday morning to eat breakfast as soon as it was available and then set off toward our first sight, Sagrada Familia, with our purses zipped closed and held tight to our bodies: Barcelona is infamous for its pick-pockets.  Even though we were only there for two whole days, I am still getting used to not clutching my bag to my body protectively here in Coimbra.  Probably not a bad habit to have though, now that I think about it...

Passion Facade

We probably should have worked our way up to Sagrada Familia instead of starting with the most impressive site in all of Barcelona.  I absolutely loved this cathedral.  I don't know anything about architecture at all and couldn't name more than two architects even now if I tried (Gaudí and Christopher Wren, thanks to a previous excursion to England in 2008), but I can safely say now that Gaudí might be my favorite architect of all time.  When you enter the complex, the first thing you see is the haunting Passion Facade, with the story of Jesus' passion and crucifixion illustrated in stark boney statues.  Even the columns around the facade are shaped like bones - which, from our audio guide, was intentional.  Gaudí was extremely detailed and, though the cathedral is still under construction, he left detailed plans so that it will be exactly as he wished it to be.  I won't continue to recite the audio guide word-for-word, but every detail was conceived and perfected so entirely.  Amazing. 

Interior

After the Passion Facade, which is only one of the side entrances, we entered through huge copper doors. I won't lie to you: I almost teared up just looking up into the cathedral.  It was amazing.  My pictures don't do it justice.  Gaudí wanted this to be the perfect cathedral and it truly is.  I was so overcome with emotion as I walked down the line of pews and to the other side. 

Looking up at the stained-glass windows

The forest-like ceiling

There we took an elevator to the top spires, where you can see Barcelona spread out as far as you can see. 

The view from the spire

Jesus as a young carpenter

Back at the bottom, we exited through the other side: the Nativity Facade.  This was entirely different than the Passion Facade.  It looked like it was melting and moving, even though it was hard stone.  There were sculptures of the Holy Family, the Flight to Egypt, Maria visiting her sister, and even an image of Jesus as a young carpenter.  I got really emotional again here.  I was completely and inexplicably enthralled with the sculpture of Jesus as a young man.  It was so incredibly beautiful. 

Gaudí's workshop

In the gardens around Gaudí's home

We continued down into the museum, which details the on-going construction and shows Gaudí's methods, workshop, and burial place within the crypt.  Then we left the Sagrada Familia to go to Gaudí's Park Guell, a fantastic area which he had originally conceived to be a living facility for the rich but failed.  Now it is merely a park, with his home placed dead in the center.  We walked around the fantastical grounds and went into his home, which now contains various pieces of furniture that he designed for aristocratic families.  After posing next to the famous lizard statue, we took the bus to La Rambla, where Amy's uncles and their friend Peter were waiting for us in a little restaurant in an isolated plaza.  They graciously bought us lunch (which was fantastic, as I had been slowly nibbling at a Nutella sandwich in my bag to avoid buying food) and then walked us around the harbor area of Barcelona. 

Park Guell

The Lizard statue

The burnt ceiling of Santa Maria del Mar

Then they led us around the Barrio Gótica, where we visited several fantastic old churches (though they didn't come close to La Sagrada Familia).  Santa Maria del Mar was fantastic: it was internally burned during the Spanish Civil War when the church officials took the side of Franco, and you can still see the carbon on the ceiling.  We also went to the national cathedral, which was being renovated.  Outside some sort of cultural event was happening: hundreds of older people were dancing in large circles to a band.  As night fell, we parted ways with Jim, Tim, and Peter and had dinner in a Spanish restaurant (tapas included!) and returned to the hostel after meandering around the La Ramblas area and shopping.

The front of the Cathedral

The next morning we got up bright and early yet again and went directly to the Harbor area, where we revisited the Columbus Monument (and I made yet more lion friends)...

New lion friend!

... the Maritime Museum...

Shark friend at the Maritime Museum

Yeah, I know this is Portuguese, Barcelona.  Not obvious from the coat of arms or anything.  But don't label it.  It's cool. 

A model of an English ship that destroyed Spanish ships.  Derp.

... and visited the sights that we missed in the Barrio Gótica, like the Temple of Augustus: Roman ruins housed within the Barcelona Hiking Club (no wonder).  We met up with Amy's uncles during this time and they again bought us lunch (seriously, the most wonderful people on the planet) before they had to leave the city.  We continued walking around and visited the Viceroy's Palace, saw the outside of the City Museum (formerly a palace of Ferdinand and Isabella), and the Cathedral again (where the strange cultural festivities were continuing, now with dancing and a parade of huge statues of unidentifiable people from all different time periods... I'm guessing they are famous Spaniards but who knows?) then went to the Picasso Museum, which was very interesting.  It houses quite a lot of his earlier stuff, which is beautiful classic painting.  You would never connect these paintings with his famous later work, like Guernica.  I'm going to be a little snooty right now and say that I have a strange relationship with Picasso... as much as I appreciate what his originality, I rather dislike modern art and he definitely contributes to that whole movement.  But, at the same time, you can see just how talented he really was... Complicated.

Okay, I'm lowering my nose now.

After the Picasso museum, we decided to forgo a large dinner for a dessert tour instead.  We stopped in a small dessert place and got freshly made waffles (mine with caramel... magic), then McDonalds (where I got McNuggets and a purse-shaped Barbie notebook), and then churros with chocolate back near the cathedral.  Then it was back to the hostel, where I passed out. 

The most delicious waffle the world has ever known.

CHURROS

Early flight the next morning, and we were back in Coimbra that Monday afternoon.  I unfortunately missed my favorite class, History of Portugal, but my friend Dan was good enough to allow me to borrow his notes.  But truly, I would have missed several History classes for Barcelona.  What an amazing, amazing city.

Sorry this was written a little curtly... But now its time for me to start writing about my birthday week and "cultural trip" to Viséu!  Até logo!

6: Food, Fado, Fun

02/16/2011

I've got lots of pictures for you all today :)

The roof of the cafe/church.

FRIDAY (2/11/2011):

I mentioned before that we were planning on seeing a fado performance at a local cafe, and that was pretty amazing. Tatiana and I got to the cafe first, and this cafe was absolutely beautiful inside. It used to be a wing of the church, but the owners bought it and converted it (there was a lot of controversy... the whole story was in three different languages in our menus).  We were under the impression that we would eat dinner there, but apparently this country doesn't eat out past 4 pm and we had bifana... again. These sandwiches are basically all we eat other than pasta and rice (so cheap!) and despite their less than favorable appearance, those pork steaks are delicious.


The fado performance was amazing.  It was simply a singer, a guitarist, and another musician on a "Coimbra guitar," which is rounder and seemed a little higher pitched.  The singer was this very old man in this long dramatic cape, though several times I caught him dancing subtly to the music.  The guitarists were amazing, and their two instrumentals (sans singer) were my favorite songs.  I didn't understand much of the lyrics, but there was one song that I was able to find on YouTube afterward solely because it is about Coimbra.  We were basically the only ones there when we arrived in the cafe, but by ten, when the performance was scheduled to start, the entire cafe was brimming with people.  One of my professors was talking about fado and said, "I don't know what it is.  Its all very sad, but every Portuguese person just loves fado."  I  recorded quite a lot of the concert, so if you want any clips, I can definitely email you a few snippets.  I posted one of the instrumental songs on my Facebook as well.


SATURDAY & SUNDAY (2/12-13/2011):
Amy's boyfriend James visited this weekend (and was with us at the fado performance), but Tatiana and I were able to meet up with them a few times during the weekend.  I accompanied Tatiana to a few apartment for rent.  More cafes.  More pasta.  More loud Asian neighbors who seem to be destroying the pots, pans, plates, and each other at all hours of the day (at least that's what it sounds like). So much rain.

MONDAY:
New classes!  In addition to my language classes, I also attended the História Portuguesa class in the Intermediate level with Dan from West Point.  The professor promises to be delightful.  He was a history professor all the way: impeccable suit, awkward, and constantly made himself laugh at his strange jokes.  What more could you ask for?  Plus, he speaks very slowly.  I love him already.  We will definitely make my Mondays, where I have class non-stop from 9 AM to 6 PM (with an hour lunch break), a little more bearable.

TUESDAY:

Alex's Bar, 2/5/2011

More classes, yes, but it was Tuesday night that made it memorable.  Tuesdays and Thursdays are the big party nights in Coimbra.  Weekends here are dead because most of the students go home on the weekends to see their family and do their laundry, but Tuesdays and Thursdays are insane.  Despite my Germany buddy Ruben excusing himself last minute, we still had a fantastic night with Dan.  Because he had gone out the Thursday before, he lead us around to a few bars (including Alex's Bar!) and was a perfect gentlemen.  Hopefully the West Point girls and Felipe will be able to come out with us on Thursday.  I just wish I had remembered my camera!

WEDNESDAY:
Today, I luckily didn't have class until 2 PM, though the rest of my party group had to be up at the University for 11 AM classes.  Rough.  But I again had my history class again, accompanied with a giant book I had to buy for the class.  Seriously, that monster is about two inches thick and can stand up on its own.  For an English/Theater concentrator, this is new and different than my little paper-back novels.  But after I finish this particular post, I want to start reading it immediately.  We are picking up in the middle of Portuguese history in class (we'll cover the 15th to 20th centuries), but I definitely want to go over the beginnings of the country.  Plus, I missed out on learning about Dom Pedro I and Inês, Portugal's real-life Romeo and Juliet and one of my favorite romances... despite the exhuming and heart-ripping-out and such.

So basically it as far as events go.  But I would like to share a few things I've learned:

Gnomes love vinho verde.

1. I can now cook on a gas stove, as that is the only option in our dormitories.  I almost want to take driving lessons on a manual car now.  Almost.

2. I now know the difference between vinho verde and vinho branco.  In Portugal, most of the wine that looks like white wine (vinho branco) is actually vinho verde, "green wine," which is so named not for the color but because this kind of wine is not made to sit but to be drunk usually within the first year or so of its creation.  Vinho verde is a distinctly Portuguese kind of wine, so if you see it anywhere else, you can know that it is from Portugal.  It can be white or red in color, but I haven't noticed at red vinho verde yet.  I have also learned that it is delicious.

3. Coimbra is Portugal's third largest city.  This fact was a little sad to learn, especially when you are wandering these streets on a Friday night and there is literally NO ONE THERE.

4. I now know why Portuguese people flocked to the New England area: the weather both here and in Rhode Island has the same mentality: if you don't like it, just wait five minutes.  In walking between the Faculdade de Letras and my bus stop, I experienced perfect sunlight, rain, sleet, and basic dreariness.  All in a seven minute walk.

5. I have also learned that my prejudice against chouriço is completely unfounded.  It makes the best sandwiches and therefore has basically been a vital part of my lunches for the past few days.  I have been missing out for the past 20 years.  Thank God I came here and fully realized my Portuguese heritage.  Soon I'm going to be eating bacalhau and pastéis de nata like its my job (I've already started employment)

Sandwich with chouriço

Eating pastéis de nata

Also these cookies are delicious but their name escapes me... for now.

5: Classes Begin

02/11/2011


My dad recently told me that while he loved my blog, "the one thing that I believe would make your Blog better would be more positive news."  I was a total Debbie Downer in my last post, so let me say earnestly that I'm here today liven up the mood.


After my last post, I was obviously very distraught and uninspired.  But after I got back to my room and calmed down a bit, things definitely began to look up.  Basically I figured that if the classes were too easy, I would be able to test out after the first week, and if they were appropriate, I would stick with it and be able to review the bits of the language that I wasn't 100% on.  Ana Paula told me that I could definitely attend the Portuguese History class, which is one of the culture classes that is offered only in Intermediate, which was basically the only reason I wasn't able to get into the Intermediate level in the first place.  Plus, today I met a student who had studied at Coimbra last semester as well, and she was still in Beginner but spoke very well.  So, who knows how they separate these levels.  After experiencing my classes these last two days, I would be content with staying in my level or moving up.  We'll see how next week goes.


Anyway, after the test and the breakdown, we returned to the dorm and I watched the new How I Met Your Mother episode (ah, the miracle of the Internet).  We got in touch with the West Point students and, while the girls were planning on making dinner that night, Dan was all for coming out with us to find a restaurant close by.  But despite the copious amounts of banks, dentists, and clothing stores near our dorm, there are no real restaurants... even most of the cafes were closed.  The only place open for dinner was a Chinese restaurant...  But, Portuguese-Chinese food?  Well, there is a first time for everything.


It was strange trying to order Chinese food in a Portuguese restaurant, and thankfully the menu came in both Portuguese and English.  There was something strange though: while other places on the menu definitely included the word "cogumelos," or mushrooms, there were some dishes that were described as coming with "fungo chinês," or, well, Chinese fungus.  Curiosity almost got the better of me but in the end, I didn't order any fungo chinês... Next time, Kang Le.


There was no one in the restaurant when we arrived (this common trope is starting to convince me that Portuguese people don't eat anything except for pastries after 2 PM), and only a few parties showed up before we left, so the waiters were practically at our shoulders the entire time we were there.  They even took our plates away before asking us whether we were indeed finished or not, though thankfully we had devoured most of the food by then.  We then escaped the hovering waiters and returned to Polo III, where Ashleigh and Barbara were just finishing up dinner.  It was a party though: a few other people on their floor had also chipped in and they had all made a massive meal.  We stayed around and offered our quarts of ice cream to anyone to might like some and met Marta (Portuguese), Felipe (Dan's Brazilian roommate), and Otavio (Brazilian as well).  We were with them for quite a long time, speaking back and forth in English and Brazilian.  Felipe is a complete character, and he was excited to know that I was also a theater person, as he used to do modern dance.  Tatiana, Amy, and I were a little jealous that the West Point students had been roomed with Portuguese-speaking students, but hopefully we will be able to join a few of their dinner parties and befriend them as well.


Thursday morning marked the beginning of classes, and while I was planning on attending both the Intermediate and Elementary level of Portuguese, the classes were all at the same time so I stuck with my preassigned Elementary.  My first class Língua Portuguesa, in which we will do a lot of work with grammar and such.  The professor passed out a few magazine articles to read, and while I was a little frustrated with my partners, who basically refused to speak more than a sentence to me, but overall the class went very well.  


I also recognized someone in the class who I had not expect to be there: Ruben is from Germany and his speaking skills sounded fantastic when I met him on the day of the placement exam.  I thought he would definitely get into the Superior Level or at least Intermediate, but he was in class with me.  He recognized me as well and we realized that the our weaknesses were the other's strengths: he could speak and comprehend but wasn't very good at grammar and conjugation, and I can't form a coherent sentence in less than a minute but I could tell you the present subjunctive of "ver" in a moment (its veja, vejas, veja, vejamos, vejam, in case you didn't believe me).  We decided to be study buddies and try to move into Intermediate together.  We were both in Turmo 3, the highest level of Elementary, so we also had our Laboratório class together later in the afternoon.  Many of the foreign students drop this class because it doesn't count for any credits, but I think I'm going to stick with it.  It's basically its a classroom environment for practicing Portuguese and overcoming your own personal deficiencies with the language: we had the ability to practice speaking, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary... all in this first class.  I was glad to have some background with phonetics because the second half of the class was spelling out common sounds, and in the process I found out that I was saying the verb ending -am incorrectly, so that's good. 


During this class, however, we did an exercise where we wrote down our nationality, interests, qualities about our personality, etc. and then passed the papers around.  From the random new paper, you had to pick out its original owner, but this took forever because half the class is Chinese!  All these students are from Macau, where Portuguese and Chinese are the two official languages, and it was basically impossible to figure out who our person was when all it says is, "Sou chinesa.  Gosta de ler e comprar roupas."  There are also two Japanese students, German Ruben, myself and another older American woman, and a student from Bulgaria, Turkey, and Belgium, and Spain respectively.  Obviously we were all easily identified.  


After class, Ruben and I went to the bar/cafe in the Faculdade de Letras (Yes, their Humanities building has its own bar... Reasons why Portugal has a terrible economy but remains awesome #478) and "studied."  I put it in quotes not to denote an opposite or inappropriate meaning, but because our version of studying was basically just speaking in Portuguese together.  He would ask me questions about random things and I would have to respond with different verb tenses, vocabulary, etc.  Another boy in our level, Japanese Yugi (this spelling is guesstimated, but it sounds a lot like "Eugene" when he says it), invited himself into the study session, and while I can't understand a word he says with his very heavy Japanese accent, I'm sure he needed the practice just as much as I did.  After about an hour, we switched and I showed Ruben how to conjugate the present subjunctive and quizzed him on the irregular forms.  Hopefully we'll be able to study like this more often.  I felt much better about my speaking and pronunciation after that hour and a half.


After I took the bus back home, I realized how completely exhausted I was.  Amy had been sick earlier in the week, and despite my effort I realized I must be coming down with the same thing.  I was so disappointed because Tatiana and I were supposed to accompany the West Point students on a night on the town guided by Felipe, who was going to show them the popular bars and clubs in the area.  But after Tatiana and I made dinner (the stoves, again, proved to make things difficult, but our pasta came out delicious regardless), we realized that going out that night was not an option.  So we sent our apologies to Dan, put our pajamas on, and watched "Guess Who" before passing out earlier than usual.  That night, we also made our first attempt at doing laundry, though clothes are currently hanging all over the room since the drier takes almost two hours.  At least Tatiana finally has socks now! :)


Today was another day of classes, though my first and only class, Conversação, wasn't until 2 PM.  I slept in, got dressed, and then promptly got on the wrong bus.  The bus system in Coimbra doesn't have a northbound/southbound type of system like the ones in DC, but are simply a circuit.  There are places where the buses cross paths but are traveling the opposite way on the circuit, and I happened to catch the 29 on the same such route.  What is usually a seven-minute bus ride became about 40 minutes, but I arrived at the Praça da República just in time for lunch at one of the university's many cantinas with Tatiana, Dan, Felipe, Amy, and her boyfriend James, who is visiting for the weekend.  At least lunch was only 2.45 €!  


Now class is over and the weekend is just beginning.  However, most of the students go home on the weekends, so the city is pretty dead.  I'm hoping that Ruben and some other students abroad will be around this weekend, as the West Point students will be spending the next two days in Porto.  As for tonight, we are hoping to go to a cafe which has both free wifi and fadistas (performers of fado, the traditional music of Portugal).  This post has been rather devoid of pictures, so I hope I'll get some good ones tonight and this weekend.  


Isn't content Alex so much better to read?